Living like all the world’s a stage: Following the untimely passing of actor Samuel French, classmates remember the 1998 Clifton High School graduate
By BRYAN DAVIS
Bosque Film Society Historian & Founding Board Member
Tributes poured in last week for actor Samuel French, a 1998 graduate of Clifton High School who died May 9 in a Waco hospital following a two-year battle with cancer. Funeral services for French were held May 16 at the Valley Mills First Baptist Church.
French, 45, had worked steadily as actor for more than a decade and brought recognition to his hometown two years ago when he appeared in the award-winning Martin Scorsese film “Killers of the Flower Moon.” His hometown celebrated that achievement with a red-carpet screening in his honor in October 2023 at the historic Cliftex Theater.
Samuel Don French was born in Waco in 1980 and attended grade school in his father’s hometown of Valley Mills before the family moved to Clifton where he completed junior high and high school. French found his love for acting early appearing in children’s theater stage productions at the Bosque Arts Center. But as a teenager, his interests gravitated to sports, particularly football, which former classmates recall he particularly enjoyed.
Clifton hair stylist Summer Barron Bekkelund may have known Sammy — as he was called by friends and family — longer than any of his former classmates. They started grade school together in Valley Mills before both transferred to Clifton in junior high.
“We lived close to each other,” Bekkelund recalled. “We used to ride our bikes all over Valley Mills, but we had to be home by the time the streetlights came on.”
Bekkelund stayed connected with French after high school and said he would often contact her when in Clifton and needing a haircut.
“I’m reading for a big part,” she recalled him saying, “and I need you to make me look good.”
Bekkelund said she enjoyed hearing about roles he was auditioning for what he had been cast in and actors he had met.
“I told Sammy he better not forget his old friends when he became famous,” Bekkelund said. “He told me I needn’t worry.”
T.J. Henderson, who also graduated with French, remembered his old friend fondly.
“Sammy was a great guy and friend to all,” Henderson said. “He always had a smile on his face. Sammy could always find a way to lighten the mood and make people laugh.”
Following high school graduation in 1998, French spent time in college and 11 years playing semi-pro and professional indoor football. Approaching thirty, he set out to pursue his dream of working as an actor. His first mainstream attention came 10 years ago playing Gavin McDonough in an episode of “Texas Rising,” a 2015 History Channel miniseries based on the Texas Revolution against Mexico.
In 2020, French played Ben in an episode of “Fear of the Walking Dead.” He had a leading role with “Joe Haladin: The Case of the Missing Sister,” before his most visible role in Oscar-winning director Martin Scorsese’s 2023 historical drama “Killers of the Flower Moon.” In the Scorsese film, French portrayed C.J. Robinson, an undercover agent investigating the Osage Indian murders in 1920’s Oklahoma.
On Oct. 29, 2023, The Cliftex Theater and the Bosque Film Society hosted a red-carpet screening for “Killers of the Flower Moon,” with French as the honored guest. In attendance were his daughter and several old friends and family. A Question and Answer followed the screening and French talked about growing up in Clifton and his career. He noted that his dream had always been to work in a film with actor Robert DeNiro and to work in a Martin Scorsese film. He said realizing both dreams in the same movie project was exhilarating. French served as an honorary board member of the Bosque Film Society.
Melissa Buck Smith was a classmate and friend of French who attended the Cliftex screening and visited afterwards.
“Sammy had a way of making people feel seen, heard, and cared for,” she wrote on her Facebook page the day of his funeral. “Whether it was his infectious laugh or his quiet kindness, he left a mark on everyone lucky enough to have known him.”
French continued working to the end, and few friends back home were aware of his declining health. At the time of his death, he had four projects in post-production awaiting release and was enjoying the accolades coming his way from two of his 2024 film roles. He won three supporting actor citations at film festivals for his role in “Monsters Within,” and two best actor prizes for his performance in “Blood Dried Hands.”
His passing was widely reported on numerous entertainment online news sources and attributed to paul Sinacore, the writer and director of “Towpath,” French’s last completed, yet to be released film project.
“Samuel carried a fire for acting that burned in every frame — unfiltered, fearless and alive,” Sinacore said of his friend. “He gave himself completely to the work, and it showed. I am deeply saddened by his loss and only wish he could have seen the final cut. He was one of a kind, and he will remain in our hearts forever.”
Former classmate and Bosque County Attorney Zach Brown played football with French in high school. “Sammy was always a really laid-back guy who got along with everyone and was always down for a good time,” Brown recalled. “When I moved back home four years ago, I ran into him one day and we talked for a long time. I was happy to see the man he had become — especially that he had found his faith in Jesus. He was a just a great guy.”
Like Brown, former classmate Kara Erickson Ramsey also ran into French at a Clifton gas station in 2023. “I hadn’t seen him since graduation and we gave each other a big hug and just stood there for twenty minutes catching up on the last 25 years,” Ramsey recalled. “He was so happy to be home in Clifton, and he talked about his daughter a lot, really more than his acting career.”
Many former classmates dug out their old 1998 senior annuals after learning their friend Sammy had passed away. Each year there is a tradition of attributing quotes to graduating seniors. French’s quote read, “You don’t know you have something good until it’s gone.” But friends said French never stopped appreciating where he came from and the people and joy his hometown brought to him wherever he was.
French will be missed not only by fans of his work on film, but personally by scores of family and friends with roots in Bosque County. He was once quoted as saying God had blessed him with talents from his school days throughout his career and he merely wanted to follow God’s direction for his life.
“He will be greatly missed by all of his family and friends,” Henderson said. Bekkelund agreed adding, “Sammy was a kind soul. I was just so proud of him for chasing his dreams.”